Ringside this Week

Just wanted to comment on this weeks Ringside which I have only just finished watching.

Il ignore the prizefighter bit as thats been done here already.

There were just a couple of there things. First was to do with Cooper (RIP). The tributes are fully deserved but does anyone else not get a bit bugged by how much they keep overselling him? Ive read so many tributes to him now which just descend into fantasy. Anything from he was robbed against Ali to he was good enough to be world champ to he would be dominant in todays era etc. I actually think its cheapens the tributes by trying to build him up to be something he wasnt in the ring. Why not just appreciate him for the things he actually did? I hate ready an almost apologist tribute of the guy as if it was bad luck and bad skin that cost him heavyweight glory. I could sense Ian Darke on Ringside about to launch into one of these completely overselling tributes about how even weighing under 13 stone he would have captured a title today before Colin Hart cut him off and told him to be realistic.

The other thing I wanted to mention was Carl Froch. I find interviews with him to be extremelly refreshing and to the point. He just an incredibly straightforward talking guy. Some people find him arrogant or bitter but I have to say I think he comes across as absolutely spot on 95% of time.

It seems to me that Kessler served as a big wake up call to him and seems to have changed his pespective on boxing. The old Carl Froch always looked for a war and his interviews were always focused on his chin, his power and how he loved to trade and excite. Since the Kessler loss its become all about boxing and tactics. He said he wouldnt be drawn into a war with Abraham (I didnt believe him) and that it would be all about utilising gameplan and skills. And he followed through with that (although I though Abraham was disappointing). With Johnson again hes honest. Readily admits the guy is 42 and doesnt try and oversell him and says his aim is to avoid a war and focus on outboxing the older man. He admits he may not have the power to get rid of him and he would be happy with a points win. The old Froch I feel would be focusing more on a war and his chin and power but his whole perspective appears different now. I suspect he feels he had the beating of Kessler but lost the fight through bad tactics and too much focus on his trading instead of his boxing and he seems determined to avoid that mistake again.

The drawback is we may not see as many wars and back and forths with Froch but it will be interesting to see if this new Froch lasts and what he can do. To top it off he even had something positive to say about Calzaghe!

manos de piedra wrote:To top it off he even had something positive to say about Calzaghe!

Worst part of the whole episode for me.

Manos, I wholeheartedly agree with you on Froch. I've always thought he comes across as a very down-to-earth bloke who seems to possess quite a dry wit. Quite refreshing in this sport. I found this interview quite amusing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56cU1P4krNM&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Any man who has Froch's take on Robbie Savage is alright by me.

Balti, ok to add this to our youtube channel?

Y I Man wrote:Balti, ok to add this to our youtube channel?

Fine by me, aye.

Cheers, its on.

His singing's pretty atrocious.

Froch will go down as a genuine british great eventually, quality record and would love to know why he's a) not the number one ranked 168lber and b) why he's not p4p ranked top ten

The Mighty Atom wrote:Froch will go down as a genuine british great eventually, quality record and would love to know why he's a) not the number one ranked 168lber and b) why he's not p4p ranked top ten

a) his loss to Kessler, and because Showtime are pushing Ward all the way.

b) I think the fact he's had a couple close fights, and the fact he hasn't hopped weights like a bulimic tree frog.

Although having said that if he were to win the S6 he'd HAVE to be knocking on the door of top ten. He'd have all but cleared out the SMW division.

So the fact he's not American pretty much

a) Ward has what a win over Kessler and not much else compared to Froch's wins over Abraham, Dirrell, Taylor, Pascal and an ageing Reid

b) I'm sick to death of weight hopping now, it seems the be all and end all of boxing

Couldn't agree with you more mate. Instead of a guy sitting at one weight and utterly clearing up, we have guys fighting across three or four weights selectively, and any guy who stays at one weight is deemed unwilling to take on bigger challenges. How about a bit of respect for fighters who actually maintain their fighting weight without resorting to "making weight was becoming too hard"?

As for Ward, I'm not entirely convinced. He has amateur pedigree, but he just looks such a dirty, messy fighter. He relies too much on holding and mauling and 'accidentally' using his head, and as a result he's dull to watch. The fact one ref had the Bika fight 120 to Ward was laughable. Hell, he even made Bika look clean!

Think Froch systematically takes Ward apart before going in for the kill around the 8/9th round, can't believe he's ranked 9th on the pound for pound list, actually only have the top 4 above Froch. Don't see what Wonjongkam, Wlad, Bradley, Segura have done to be so highly rated.

Longevity and dominance, and in Bradley's case, having a bloody massive head. Oh, and mincing between 140 & 147. Bradley is unified I suppose, but Alexander has been criticised as overrated for a while, so that should be taken into account really.

The ring are normally quite spot on but in this case their bias is clear for all to see, Froch was meant to have fought Bute years ago which would have increased his longevity not his fault Lucian has a fear of flying and challenges.

Well Bute's another case similar to Ward. Only he's fought lesser opposition. I mean, Magee's a guy Froch beat years ago. Certain facets of the press seem blinded to Bute and Ward's stay home tendencies, and by contrast Froch is genuinely willing to go where it's needed.

I'm not making excuses for the Kessler loss, but I don't doubt that the volcano issue caused some considerable upsets in Froch's build up. He's also a pretty clean fighter, by and large. He threw Dirrell to the floor, sure, but Dirrell was just unwilling to engage, so I'd put that down to frustration rather than trying to injure the guy.

Have long banged the drum for Carl. People rightly praise the run he is on now but even going back to the pre Pascal days he signed twice to fight Inkin who was perceived as a genuine dangerman in the division. Think with Carl he has on occasions been a little naive with the media, he tends to always come across well but if he does a half hour interview of which two minutes are about Calzaghe that was inevitably what was picked up.

Should alsosay thought, whilst I think Joe beats Carl at pretty much any time the fight could have happened people often forget at the time Carl was calling him out he was a top ranked contender in the division and so calling out the top fighter in the weight was hardly out of leftfield. Am pleased he is now on Sky, it is exposure that is well deserved and overdue.

It's not just American bias, BM have him as the 4th best SM behind Bute, Ward, Kessler. I think Ward went top when he beat Kessler, and Froch went below Bute for losing to Kessler (even though Bute only beat Miranda in that time).

I would agree with Mighty Atom with having him P4P ranked, and quite highly. It seems a bit flavour of the month, Segura beat Calderon which is obviously a good win, but he needs to show more consistency. As it is, it just looks to me like his style matched up well and Calderon's legs had gone. Whether he can beat the same standard of opposition elsewhere is a bit unknown.

I agree scott, there seems to be quite a bit of ranking done based on a relatively small amount of a boxer's career. One great win seems to bump a guy up disproportionately when as you say, it could simply by a fortunate style match-up.